As the state faces a significant budget deficit, California lawmakers on June 13 approved a budget plan for the next two fiscal years that includes $27.2 billion in spending reductions, including cutting more than $1 billion from the state’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
“With the budget this big, and with the deficit we have, there are a lot of things we need to work through,” Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who is also the chair of that body’s budget committee, told reporters after the plan was passed. “It’s about what are the most effective solutions and what are the programs and services that we think are the best way to go forward.”